> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.hiredata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Modifiers
> Use HireData modifiers to transform variable values inside automations: change case, format dates and numbers, build conditions, and clean up candidate data.
Modifiers change how a [variable](/variables/introduction) value appears when your content is sent. Add one with a pipe (`|`) after the field.
## How modifiers work
A modifier goes after the field, separated by a pipe:
```
{{ candidate.first_name | uppercase }} → SOFIA
```
Add more pipes to apply modifiers in order, from left to right:
```
{{ candidate.first_name | lowercase | capitalise }} → sofia → Sofia
```
Some modifiers take extra values after a colon, separated by commas:
```
{{ job.title | truncate_chars: 20 }} → Senior Software Engin...
{{ description | replace: "old", "new" }} → This is my new job
```
Arguments can be:
* **Text** — wrap it in quotes: `"EUR"`, `"there"`
* **Numbers** — write them plainly: `20`, `2`
* **Another field** — reference it by key: `highlight: candidate.first_name`
Many modifiers have shorter aliases. For example, `upper` works the same as
`uppercase`, and `gt` the same as `greater_than`. Aliases are shown in
brackets in the tables below.
## Fallback
| Modifier | What it does | Example |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------ |
| `default: value` | Shows `value` when the field is empty or missing | `{{ name \| default: "there" }}` → `there` |
## Text
| Modifier | What it does | Example |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| `uppercase` (`upper`) | Uppercases the text | `sofia` → `SOFIA` |
| `lowercase` (`lower`) | Lowercases the text | `SOFIA` → `sofia` |
| `capitalise` | Capitalises every word | `john doe` → `John Doe` |
| `title_case` | Capitalises the first word only | `john doe` → `John doe` |
| `camel_case` | Formats as camelCase | `john doe` → `johnDoe` |
| `pascal_case` | Formats as PascalCase | `john doe` → `JohnDoe` |
| `snake_case` | Joins the words with underscores | `john doe` → `john_doe` |
| `kebab_case` | Joins the words with hyphens | `john doe` → `john-doe` |
| `dot_case` | Joins the words with dots | `john doe` → `john.doe` |
| `slug` | Makes a web-friendly version for links | `John Doe!` → `john-doe` |
| `initials` | Takes the initials | `John Doe` → `JD` |
| `trim` | Removes spaces from both ends | ` hi ` → `hi` |
| `trim_start` | Removes leading spaces | ` hi` → `hi` |
| `trim_end` | Removes trailing spaces | `hi ` → `hi` |
| `append: text` | Adds text to the end | `Doe` + `append: "!"` → `Doe!` |
| `prepend: text` | Adds text to the start | `Doe` + `prepend: "Mr "` → `Mr Doe` |
| `concat: a, b, …` (`combine`) | Joins the value with one or more texts or fields | `first \| concat: " ", last` → `John Doe` |
| `replace: find, with` | Replaces all matches | `replace: "o", "0"` on `john` → `j0hn` |
| `replace_first: find, with` | Replaces the first match | `j0hn doe` |
| `replace_last: find, with` | Replaces the last match | `john d0e` |
| `remove: text` | Removes all matches | `remove: " "` on `john doe` → `johndoe` |
| `remove_first: text` | Removes the first match | |
| `remove_last: text` | Removes the last match | |
| `truncate_chars: length` | Shortens to a number of characters, adding `…` | `truncate_chars: 5` on `Engineering` → `Engin...` |
| `truncate_words: count` | Shortens to a number of words, adding `…` | `truncate_words: 2` on `one two three` → `one two...` |
| `excerpt: phrase` | Shows a snippet around a matching phrase | |
| `substring: start, length` (`substr`) | Takes part of the text by position | `substring: 0, 5` on `Engineering` → `Engin` |
| `word: index` | Takes a single word (starting at 0) | `word: 1` on `one two three` → `two` |
| `word_count` (`words`) | Counts the words | `one two three` → `3` |
| `length` (`len`, `size`, `count`) | Counts the characters | `Sofia` → `5` |
| `lines` | Splits text into separate lines | |
| `wrap: width` | Wraps text to a line width | |
| `pad_left: length, char` | Pads the start to a length | `pad_left: 3, "0"` on `5` → `005` |
| `pad_right: length, char` | Pads the end to a length | `pad_right: 3, "x"` on `5` → `5xx` |
| `repeat: times` | Repeats the text | `repeat: 3` on `ab` → `ababab` |
| `mask: char, start, length` | Hides part of the text | `mask` on `secret` → `******` |
| `redact` | Hides sensitive data, keeping a hint | `john@acme.com` → `j***@acme.com` |
| `highlight: term` | Highlights matching words in the text | highlights `term` in the text |
| `ascii` (`transliterate`) | Replaces accented letters with plain ones | `José` → `Jose` |
| `escape_html` | Shows HTML characters as plain text | `` → `<b>` |
| `strip_html` | Removes any HTML tags | `hi` → `hi` |
| `markdown_to_html` | Turns Markdown into formatted text | `**hi**` → `hi` |
| `sprintf: format` (`format`) | Formats text or numbers with a pattern | `sprintf: "%05.2f"` on `3.1` → `03.10` |
## Contact and locale
| Modifier | What it does | Example |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| `link` | Turns a value into a clickable link (email → `mailto:`, phone → `tel:`, web → anchor) | `a@b.com` → `a@b.com` |
| `format_phone: region` | Formats a phone number internationally | `06 12345678` → `+31612345678` |
| `country_name` | Shows the country name for a code | `NL` → `Netherlands` |
| `language_name` | Shows the language name for a code | `nl` → `Dutch` |
## Numbers
| Modifier | What it does | Example |
| ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| `round: decimals` | Rounds to a number of decimals | `round: 2` on `3.14159` → `3.14` |
| `ceil` | Rounds up | `3.1` → `4` |
| `floor` | Rounds down | `3.9` → `3` |
| `absolute` | Removes the minus sign | `-7` → `7` |
| `add: n` | Adds a number | `add: 10` on `5` → `15` |
| `subtract: n` | Subtracts a number | `subtract: 3` on `5` → `2` |
| `multiply_by: n` | Multiplies | `multiply_by: 2` on `5` → `10` |
| `divide_by: n` | Divides | `divide_by: 2` on `5` → `2.5` |
| `modulo: n` | The remainder after dividing | `modulo: 2` on `5` → `1` |
| `min: n` | Sets a lowest allowed value | `min: 0` on `-3` → `0` |
| `max: n` | Sets a highest allowed value | `max: 100` on `120` → `100` |
| `clamp: min, max` | Keeps a value within a range | `clamp: 0, 10` on `15` → `10` |
| `format_number: decimals` | Formats with thousands separators | `1000000` → `1,000,000` |
| `format_currency: currency` | Formats as money | `format_currency: "EUR"` on `65000` → `€65,000.00` |
| `format_percentage: decimals` | Formats as a percentage | `75` → `75%` |
| `ordinal_number` | Adds the ordinal suffix | `3` → `3rd` |
| `abbreviate: decimals` | Shortens large numbers | `1200` → `1.2K` |
| `spell_number` | Writes the number in words | `42` → `forty-two` |
| `negate` | Flips the sign | `5` → `-5` |
| `sign` | Tells you if it's negative, zero, or positive | `-7` → `-1` |
| `pow: exponent` (`power`) | Raises to a power | `pow: 2` on `5` → `25` |
| `sqrt` (`square_root`) | The square root | `16` → `4` |
| `to_fixed_number: decimals` (`to_fixed`) | Always shows this many decimals | `to_fixed_number: 2` on `3.1` → `3.10` |
| `file_size` (`format_bytes`) | Human-readable file size | `1024` → `1 KB` |
## Dates and times
Date formats use standard date tokens such as `d` (day), `m` (month), `Y` (year), `H` (hour), and `i` (minute).
| Modifier | What it does | Example |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------- |
| `format_date: format` | Formats a date | `format_date: "d-m-Y"` → `14-03-2026` |
| `format_relative_date` | Shows the date relative to now | `4 months ago` |
| `date_add: interval` | Adds time to a date | `date_add: "3 days"` |
| `date_subtract: interval` | Subtracts time from a date | `date_subtract: "1 week"` |
| `age` | Whole years since the date | birthdate → `34` |
| `diff_in_years: to` | Years between two dates | |
| `diff_in_months: to` | Months between two dates | |
| `diff_in_weeks: to` | Weeks between two dates | |
| `diff_in_days: to` | Days between two dates | |
| `diff_in_hours: to` | Hours between two dates | |
| `diff_in_minutes: to` | Minutes between two dates | |
| `diff_in_seconds: to` | Seconds between two dates | |
| `start_of: unit` | Start of the day, week, month, etc. | `start_of: "month"` → first of the month |
| `end_of: unit` | End of the day, week, month, etc. | `end_of: "month"` → last of the month |
| `is_past` | True if the date is in the past | |
| `is_future` | True if the date is in the future | |
| `is_today` | True if the date is today | |
| `is_weekend` | True if the date is a weekend | |
| `day_name` | Name of the weekday | `Thursday` |
| `month_name` | Name of the month | `January` |
| `quarter` | Quarter of the year (1–4) | `1` |
| `week` (`week_of_year`) | Week number of the year | `3` |
| `add_business_days: n` | Adds days, skipping weekends | |
| `to_timezone: zone` (`tz`) | Converts to a timezone | `to_timezone: "Europe/Amsterdam"` |
| `to_timestamp` (`unix`, `timestamp`) | The date as a numeric timestamp | |
| `iso8601` (`iso_date`) | The date in standard ISO-8601 format | `2026-03-14T09:00:00+00:00` |
The units for `start_of` and `end_of` are `year`, `quarter`, `month`, `week`, `day`, `hour`, `minute`, and `second`.
## Lists and structured data
These work on fields that contain a list of values.
| Modifier | What it does | Example |
| ------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| `first` | First item | |
| `last` | Last item | |
| `nth: index` (`at`) | Item at a position (starting at 0) | `nth: 1` → second item |
| `join: separator` | Joins items into text | `join: ", "` → `php, sql, go` |
| `split: separator` | Splits text into a list | `split: ","` |
| `count` (`length`) | Number of items | |
| `sort: direction` | Sorts the items (`asc` or `desc`) | |
| `sort_by: key, direction` | Sorts items by a key | |
| `unique` (`distinct`) | Removes duplicates | |
| `reverse` | Reverses the order | |
| `slice: start, length` | Takes part of the list | |
| `sum` | Adds up the numbers | `[3, 1, 2]` → `6` |
| `avg` (`average`) | Average of the numbers | `[3, 1, 2]` → `2` |
| `get: key` | Picks one value out by its name | `get: "skills"` |
| `pluck: key` (`column`) | Pulls one field from every item in the list | `pluck: "name"` |
| `keys` | Lists the field names | |
| `values` | Lists the values | |
| `parse_json` | Reads JSON data so you can use list modifiers on it | |
| `to_json` | Turns the value into JSON text | |
## Conditions and logic
Conditions return true or false. Pair them with `boolean_label` to show a friendly label, or combine them with `and`, `or`, and `not`.
| Modifier | What it does | Example |
| ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| `equals: value` (`eq`) | True if equal | `{{ stage \| equals: "offer" }}` |
| `not_equals: value` (`ne`, `neq`) | True if not equal | |
| `greater_than: n` (`gt`) | True if greater than | |
| `less_than: n` (`lt`) | True if less than | |
| `greater_than_or_equal: n` (`gte`) | True if greater than or equal | |
| `less_than_or_equal: n` (`lte`) | True if less than or equal | |
| `between: min, max` | True if within the range | `between: 0, 10` |
| `is_empty` (`empty`) | True if the field is empty | |
| `is_not_empty` (`not_empty`) | True if the field has a value | |
| `contains: text` | True if it contains the text | |
| `does_not_contain: text` | True if it does not contain the text | |
| `starts_with: text` | True if it starts with the text | |
| `ends_with: text` | True if it ends with the text | |
| `does_not_start_with: text` | True if it does not start with the text | |
| `does_not_end_with: text` | True if it does not end with the text | |
| `one_of: a, b, …` (`in`) | True if it matches any value | `one_of: "offer", "hired"` |
| `not_one_of: a, b, …` (`not_in`) | True if it matches none | |
| `and: (condition)` | True if both sides are true | `gt: 80 \| and: (stage \| equals: "offer")` |
| `or: (condition)` | True if either side is true | |
| `not` | Flips true and false | `equals: "hired" \| not` |
| `boolean_label: yes, no` | Shows a label for true/false | `gt: 80 \| boolean_label: "Strong", "Weak"` → `Strong` |
A condition combined with a label is a common pattern:
```
{{ score | greater_than: 80 | boolean_label: "Strong candidate", "Needs review" }}
```
## Related topics
- [Variables](/variables/introduction.md)